Wednesday, March 13, 2013

This article was prompted by a customer email just received a few minutes ago.

Originally I was about to send the response directly, but then decided to post the answer here as I kind of drifted away from the simple answer I could have given.

Which was in turn prompted by another customer exchange earlier today when I was told, and I quote here, 'You are damn right I was using abusive language...' because supposedly we've promised we would fix his TV and $200 later we still haven't. (which we haven't promised, of course, nor has he spent $200 on us, but that's another story).

It is not unusual to be on both sides of the fense on any given day.

Our business is based on problems, people come to us when they have problems and it is only natural that when we can't fix their problems that only presents them with bigger problems and tend to get the heat.

Which would explain why most TV technicians I've seen - and a good deal of our customers are actually TV technicians - are usually grumpy or snappy at best.

More on that in a bit, here is the email that prompted this article:

"Dear Coppell TV Repair,sending a bad 6871QYH053B for repair. the board does not display picture. It made a popping noise as soon as it was turned on the first time, tv will not power on when this board is connected(indicator light stay red).

The fuse furthest from the ic keeps blowing. the board is untouched. It was supposedly "brand new" when I bought it."

The 6871QYH053B is apparently blown and the IC on it is in need of replacement, nothing new here. Done that hundreds of times already and readers can find related articles here, here, here and probably in a bunch of other articles already.

What I wanted to focus on was the last sentence about the board being supposedly "brand new".

If anyone believes that in 2013, with a class action lawsuit against LG from several years ago and hundreds - if not thousands - of already sold repair kits for these boards - there are still any brand new boards out there then they have to give up whatever they are doing and join if not government's public relation head management then at least Microsoft's developer evangelists, who are probably still busy telling everyone how novel the next Windows Mobile version will be.

It is equally upsetting to see people who can be so naive and sellers that can be so either naive or stupid or evil to make such claims.

Maybe, just maybe LG or another big name may have a brand new board. If they indeed do it'll surely cost around and above the cost of a new TV the same size.

At least that's how it was the last time I checked and it makes sense to be that way, so it hardly would have changed.

I can't decide for myself how many of the sellers out there are lying on purpose and how many are lying just because they do not know any better.

I am leaning towards the majority being in the second group and in all fairness I am not a stranger to periodically finding myself in that group too.

Yet I think an intelligent person would realize the pattern over time and stop making claims that - at the least - they could not have verified.

But - here's a bummer - most TV technicians - and most chop shop retailers - are not intelligent.

You can't stay intelligent for long if all you do is deal with problems and grumpy customers or if you dismantle boards half the day and list them for sale the other half.

There's nothing to stimulate your brain in either of those activities (and I know that first hand too).

Oddly enough, I think the same also applies to modern doctors.

In general, I think TV repairmen are a lot like doctors - from having to deal with problems to tending to fall in the same pattern of resolving a common problem ("Temperature? Ok, it's the flu, you're the 10th since yesterday, and past 9 had the flu, so you must have it too") to developing the habit of NOT listening to what people want to tell them ("so here is what I did: I pressed the button and at first nothing happened, but then it came up as it normally does, only slower, and then it worked for like, what, 3-4 hours and then BOOOM - out of nowhere, just like that, it stopped working , but here's the thing...(me: z-z-z-z-z)".

I've got my fair share of dealing with doctors - just enough, thank you very much! - and here's what I'd say to those in the market for TV repairs and/or parts:

Finding a good TV technician is about just as hard as finding a good doctor, only luckily a whole lot less risky.

Like good doctors, good technicians aren't many even though there are plenty of technicians out there (or part outlets, for that matter).

Like good doctors good technicians are always busy, you'll have trouble getting to them and when you do they may sound a bit off and easily a bit rude to you. It's not because they are rude people, it's because they have a protection wall against the ever-growing waves of ever-needing people around them.

But, I'll repeat, they can easily come accross as rude if you're sensitive.

They focus on the problem, not the patient.

Good technicians tend to talk to themselves and often to the TV or module they're working on, just like I've seen a good doctor talk to the retina of my eyes.

Good technicians will not be cheap, but they definitely won't be the most expensive ones either.
They won't be cheap because they know the real value of what they do and they're not the kid next door trying to do what they do and enter the market without knowing the expenses they'll come accross as the practice grows.

You may find a good doctor/technician at the lowest price out there, but it's like shooting for a girl that's both pretty and smart and likes you. Oh well, you get the idea.

Prices won't be the highest, though, although I am not so sure this applies equally to doctors and TV technicians. A good technician/doctor is good because they do what they do because they have a talent for it and for them it looks easier than it actually is; they are aware of what it tends to cost on the market and they're glad to get well paid, but they also feel they couldn't be overcharging for something so easy.